Overview

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With the declaration of war in September 1939, the Government Evacuation Scheme was implemented, in which almost one and a half million civilians, mostly children, were evacuated from the British cities thought most likely to be the targets of aerial bombing. The fear of invasion the following year resulted in another mass evacuation from the coastal towns.

Hundreds of thousands of school children, and mothers with babies and infants, were removed from their homes and families, and sent to live with strangers in distant rural areas and to entirely unfamiliar environments. Some children were also sent to countries of the Commonwealth, such as Canada and Australia. The evacuations had an enormous impact upon millions of individuals, both those that were evacuated and those that had to accommodate and care for the displaced multitude.

Over the course of eight years’ research Gillian Mawson has interviewed hundreds of evacuees from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Families have also allowed her access to the testimony of those who have passed away. Coupled with the extensive newspaper coverage of the day and official documents Britain’s Wartime Evacuees provides not just a comprehensive study of the evacuations, but also relates some of the most moving and emotive stories of the Second World War.

About The Author

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Gillian Mawson has made a particular study of the evacuations of the Second World War. She has organised evacuee reunions, provided research to radio and television documentaries on the subject of evacuation and run a community group for evacuees. She is also the author of two other books on the evacuees. Gillian lives in Whalley Bridge, Derbyshire.

REVIEWS

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"It is immediately apparent that this book is the result of extensive research."

- Eric Brett, Guernsey War-Time Evacuee

"Gillian Mawson has spent eight years researching this subject, interviewing hundreds of evacuees from all parts of the United Kingdom, as well as the Channel Islands and Gibraltar. In this volume of Pen & Sword's Voices From The Past series, she skilfully blends narrative and these first-hands testimonies of lives impacted by evacuation, and her skill is in allowing these voices to be heard in depth, rather than attempting to paraphrase; it is the interviews that provide emotion."

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